Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
have said, reminded God of his covenant; and he does the same here, Why hast thou smitten, so that there is no healing? For the punishment which God inflicts on his Church would be, as he declares, a kind of medicine; but when there is no hope of healing, God seems to render void what he had promised. Hence Jeremiah goes on in drawing his argument from what is inconsistent, as though he had said, that it was not possible that God should so severely smite his people as not to allow a place for forgiveness, but that he would at length be intreated and heal the wound inflicted.
We have expected peace, and there is no good; and the time of healing, and behold trouble, or terror. 379 This latter part of the verse confirms what I just stated, that the Prophet had partly a reference to God in this mode of prayer, and that he partly reproved the Jews, because they thought, being deceived by false confidence, that they were beyond the reach of danger, inasmuch as God had consecrated
Jerusalem, that his name might be there called upon, and that the Temple might be his perpetual habitation. As then he saw that his nation were inebriated, as it were, with this foolish notion, he intended briefly to shew to them that God would Ilave an unknown way by which he would retain his faithfulness, and yet punish the ungodly and the transgressors; for by saying, ``We expected peace, and there is no good,'' he certainly does not commend the fidelity of the people; for relying on God's promises, they sought comfort in evils, and hoped that God would at length be exorable and propitious. The word expecting is not to be taken in a good sense; but he on the contrary reproves the Jews, because they put too much faith in false prophets.
We hence see that he condemns that false expectation by which they had been deceived. Hence also we learn what has been before stated, that the Jews foolishly promised to themselves impunity, because God had chosen his habitation among them; for he shews that God had not in vain threatened their ruin by his servants.
This then is also the meaning when he says, We expected the time of healing, and behold terror It now follows ---
Jeremiah 14:20
20. We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
20. Cognoscimus, Jehova, scelus nostrum, et iniquitatem patrum nostrorum; quoniam scelerate egimus in te ({,}חטאנוquanquam {}רשעet {}חטאidem fere sunt, tamen simpliciter concludit, quod scelerate egerint adversus Deum.)
The Prophet here prescribes no doubt to the Jews the way of appeasing God.
He before uttered a prayer, partly in order to reprove the people for their wicked obstinacy, and partly to shew to the godly and the elect that there remained some hope. But now he uses a simple form of prayer, when he says, O Lord, we know, etc Hardly one in a thousand then did know; but the Prophet does not assume the character of the whole people; and why not? He doubtless knew that the faithful among the people were very few; but he dictates for posterity a right form of prayer, 379The proper construction of these lines, and of the preceding, is not commonly given. The "why" before "smitten" is to be understood here, — Why hast thou smitten us, and there is for us no healing? Why has there been hope for peace, and there is no good? And for the time of healing, and behold terror? The word for "hope," or longing, or looking for, is a participial noun, but rendered by the versions as though it were a verb in the first person plural. As "smitten" is in the past tense, so has been is to be understood before "hope." — Ed.
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
so that they might iu exile know that this one thing only remained for them --- to confess their sins, as otherwise they could not obtain pardon.
He therefore says, We know our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have done wickedly against thee We have already explained the Prophet's meaning in these few words, --- that when God puts forth his hand against us, there is no hope of salvation, except we repent. But confession is here put for repentance. Hypocrites are indeed very free in confessing their sins; but the Prophet speaks here of real confession; and by stating a part for the whole, everything included in repentance, as I have said, is intended. But the object here is to shew, that they were humbly to seek forgiveness, which could not be done, except they condemned themselves before God, and thus anticipated his judgment.
He speaks of the iniquity of the fathers, not that the faithful seek associates, here and there, for the sake of extenuating their guilt; but it was an aggravation of their sins, when they confessed that they were not only guilty themselves before God, but that they had brought from the womb what was, as it were, hereditary, so that they deserved death because they were the descendants of ungodly parents. Whilst hypocrites allege the examples of fathers, they think themselves thus absolved, or at least not so culpable, because they had learnt what they practice from their childhood, because a bad education had led them astray. But the faithful are of a far different mind; for they confess themselves worthy of God's vengeance, though he inquired not into the wickedness of their fathers; and they think also that God acts justly, when he executes vengeance on account of their fathers' sins, being thus worthy of a twofold vengeance.
We now then understand what the Prophet means; and hence we learn how foolishly the Papists set up this shield against God; that is, by having the word fathers often on their lips; for they ought on the contrary to confess the wickedness and iniquities of their fathers, according to what is more fully enlarged upon in the ninth chapter of Daniel (Daniel 9), where he confesses that he himself and the fathers and kings had done wickedly. And in these words we may also notice, that it was not some slight fault that Jeremiah refers to when he said, ``We acknowledge our iniquity and the iniquity of our fathers;'' he mentions first the iniquity of the living; then the iniquity of their fathers, and adds, in the third place, ``We have acted wickedly against thee.'' We hence see that he did not formally acknowledge some slight faults, but he confesses most plainly, that they were all ungodly and transgressors of God's law, and were worthy, not merely of a moderate chastisement, but of dreadful perdition, as they had thus provoked the wrath of God. 380
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that though we have been once reconciled to thee, and 380There is no and in Hebrew, nor in the Septuagint, nor in the Vulgate, between "wickedness" and "iniquity;" it is found in the Syriac and the Targum. In case it be excluded, Blayney proposes to render the passage thus, "We acknowledge, O Jehovah, that we have wrought wickedly the iniquity of our fathers;" that is, as he adds, "We have practiced over again the same wickedness, of which our fathers set the example." But a meaning is given to {{רשעwhich it never has; nor is this rendering necessary in order to convey this idea, which is probably what is intended. They confessed their wickedness, which was the iniquity of their fathers; it was the same: the latter is in apposition with the former, --- We acknowledge, Jehovah, our wickedness, --- The iniquity of our fathers; For we have sinned against thee. Their wickedness, the same with the wickedness or iniquity of the fathers, was, that they sinned against God. --- Ed.